I set this up so that everyone can keep track of me on my travels. Hope you enjoy reading.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Hola!

OK, I am back! I have had a busy couple of weeks, but here I am! First of all let me start before the school holidays. I did 3 days work at the school I am used to, with a challenging class. They work on a rotational system, where the teacher sits with one group and does a focused activity and the other children do other activities. This was chaos as they were horrible, so I scraped that fairly quickly and had them doing whole class lessons which seemed to work better as I could supervise. I also had them doing a whole class reward system to get to have "golden time" on wed afternoon, but this wasn't working as then no one was accountable. So when they came back from lunch I had a list of everyone on a huge piece of paper with 10 spots next to their names, where if they got to 10 ticks they would get golden time, which worked much better. Plus, as there is a MASSIVE range of abilities, I implemented the rule of "be the best you can be, not the best someone else can be" and this inspired the less able to try a bit harder. The next 2 days were better, much better, still chaos, but organised chaos. Everyone ended up having golden time, although 5 or 6 had to do some boring work sheets first before they could do free choice activities. Then my holiday started. YAY!
Thursday 5th- I drove down to Devon to visit my Aunt and Uncle down there for the Easter long weekend. We spent the first day just chatting and catching up, as it was around midday/early afternoon by the time I got there. My other Uncle came over for dinner and it was nice to catch up with him too.
Friday 6th- We went to a fishing village called Looe in the glorious sunshine. So sunny in fact I had to buy sunnies as I hadn't thought to bring mine with me! It was very nice there.
Saturday 7th- We went up to Dartmoor and had a walk around. We walked to where the 10 commandments have been etched into stone slabs. And there are loads of Dartmoor ponies that are pregnant, wandering around, but we didn't see any males, so there must be one male pony working overtime!! Sunday 8th- The Easter bunny came! He found me! Even on the other side of the world! We went to have a carvery lunch, and then I drove home again.
Monday 9th- I got up, unpacked from the night before, packed again and drove up to my Aunt's in Milton Keynes, where I spent the night.
Tuesday 10th- At the awful time of 5am, we left the house and drove to the airport to catch our 7.50am flight to Alicante, Spain. There we had hired a car, and my Aunt, Linda, drove us from the airport to the flat in Javea. We left glorious sunshine to arrive in overcast conditions. We arrived at the flat at around 2pm. We unpacked and got settled and then went out for a walk around.
Wednesday 11th- We drove around to better acquaint ourselves. We went to the old town, where we got out and walked around. They have a cool church there which is built to reflect the fishing port heritage of Javea so it looks like a boat, and when you go inside it is like you are under a boat. Even the Crucifix was made out of boating materials like nets and ropes. We then had lunch on the beachfront with one of my Aunt's friends, Ken, and lucky we were undercover as it decided to rain. I also had an attempt of driving as I was scared of driving on the wrong side of the road (aka the right side of the road) so I had a bit of a go. It feels all wrong and you want to hug the edge as you feel you should be on that side of the car.
Thursday 12th- We drove to Madrid, which is a good solid 500ish KM. Linda drove to Valencia, on the smaller more populated roads. I then drove across the middle of Spain. This was right up my alley, cos it is like driving in Australia. Long roads that have very little exits or cars. The scenery was amazing. Just like the outback, sandy, spinifex, eucalypts, but... very hilly. Which was the major contrast as much of the same in oz is dead flat. We did find the plane in Spain, and it did have rain! But it fell mainly on the coast, so that was a lie! My undying belief in musicals has been shattered!! When we got closer to Madrid we swapped back again, which was good, as Madrid had round abouts with about 9 lanes all coming in at them from different directions and it was chaos! I almost hyperventilated and I wasn't trying to drive in it!! Finding the hotel was interesting, however we got there eventually (an hour later) thanks to my awesome sense of direction (and the fact Madrid has a ring road so you just keep coming back to that and try again). Then we unpacked and went on an open top bus tour, just missing rain showers!
Friday 13th- Wow, I didn't realise it was friday 13th til I typed that. Oh well! We split up after breakfast as Linda wanted to see the botanical gardens and the trees, and I wanted to see the Parque De Madrid which is a massive public park, with awesome different areas, and so peaceful, considering the 13 lane roads are just outside the gates. Everywhere had roses growing along trellis as borders, that when they are in bloom will look spectacular. Then I ventured on the Metro, to head back a different way, and we met back up for lunch in the Plaza Mayor, after which we headed back to the car and drove back to Javea. We arrived to find glorious sunshine at 7pm, so we went home via a restaurant on the beach front where we had cocktails (well, I had a mocktail).
Saturday 14th- I headed off on my own to a local cave, that was shut when I got there. Had I known this I possibly would not have set off, as it was over a mountain or 2, on tiny little windy windy roads that at certain points had nothing to stop you crashing down the side, and at other points had overhanging rocks sticking into the lane marking. Luckily it wasn't a busy road, as I had to drive in the middle most of the time to feel safe. Bit it had hairpin bends and other such fun things! There were amazing views up there though, and a couple of houses. Then when I got back it decided to pour with rain (lucky it didn't while i was up the hills!) and I went with Linda and Ken to a lahdidah restaurant, La Boheme, owned by the same guy who owns Acqua, for lunch. They had proper food, and I had 3 tapas sampler, as Spain does calamari (aka calamares) which i was MUCHLY excited by, as England has no clue about this! Then when we got back we had quiet time, then a low key dinner, after which Linda's brother- and sister-in-law who also have a flat and were out came over for nibbles. While they were over it absolutely POURED down with rain. I so far had managed to either be inside the flat, in a car, or in a restaurant each time it rained.
Sunday 15th- The sun was trying very hard to come out. We met Ken and the sibling-in-laws for brunch on the beachfront at 11am, then Linda and I drove to Cap La Nau which is where one of the lighthouses that flanks Javea is, where there were some good views. Then we went to Platja Granadella (Granadella beach) which is a tiny little pebble beach down some more windy roads from the mountains. It was very nice down there, very secluded and protected as it is in a tiny bay. I even got my feet wet in the water, which was refreshingly bloody cold! Plus pebbles are SO annoying to walk on cos they hurt! Next we went to Moriara, the next town along the coast, and had a walk along the waterfront there. Then back to Javea for mocktails and I took my Aunt to dinner in a place called Scallops.
Monday 16th- Huzzah! The sun was finally here to stay! We went to Denia market, then came back to have lunch at Tango's which is a little restaurant, nothing special, except it is RIGHT on the waterfront and you can hear the waves lapping at the rocks below the wall as they slowly wash in. It was glorious, sitting there in the sun, listening to the soothing sounds of the sea, and eating calamari! I left happy,with a tan on my arms, and even a little bit of sunburn on my chest! Then we went back, sat on the terrace and read in the last few rays of the sun. After which we went down to Acqua again for our last farewell cocktails, and watched the sunset behind the villas, streaming light onto the smooth water, with Mt Montgo, in the background. Glorious!
Tuesday 17th- We got up, tidied the flat, and headed off the airport. Another glorious sunny day. Everyone at the airport was coming back from school holidays and whinging about the weather! Oh well. Such is life! At least I got to see it as I should. I haven't let the weather affect me so far, and I wont let it start now!
Wednesday 18th- last day of my holidays I spent getting my car sorted. Took it in for a wheel alignment, £5.50 each wheel. Ended up needing a new front tyre, £74.50 and needing new front brake pads £76 which I am going back to do tomorrow. I was the only female in the place. The guy tells me to come have a look at the brakes, and then in his most professional "you're a girl so you wont know anything" voice proceeds to tell me that the brakes are important because if I let them wear down too much, when I go to brake one day I might not be able too. WOW! All this time I had NO idea what they were for!! How silly of me. Good thing there was a boy to explain it all for me! *rolls eyes*. But the good news is, the car doesn't shudder when I drive it anymore! YAY!
So, yeah, it has been really sunny and nice here. I have been going out to work the last 2 days in just t-shirt and trousers. Which is a BIT chilly when I leave the house and it is 8'C but by lunch time it is about 20'C. The scary thing is, I was in shorts on Wednesday and it was only about 16'C. What am I going to do when I get back to Aus and it is so much hotter!? If I am finding 16'C hot, I am going to be stuffed in 30+!! Mind you, if it is that warm here now, it might get to that here soon!! Who knows??
I'm off to Germany next, so I probably wont post anything between now and then, as it is next thursday I go. 1 week, 6 towns! EEEK!!!!